Chapter Text
There's a saying water drops, the stone is bored through. The black breath of death is like water and leaks through the crevices of the Nomad King's scales. The reputed unmovable mountain sways and crumbles like a landslide. The earth shakes, and the avalanche roars. Everything is white, a pair of gigantic beady red staring toward where the caravan once stood. A pink dragoness hisses, facing the white malice that struck her mate down. Kirishima wants to scream at Mina to fly away as fast as she can, but the black poison is burning his lungs, melting his throat muscles. If his scales weren't as resistant as diamonds, he'd have turned to dust like most of the caravan's humans.
Kirishima knows what dark evil dwells inside that gigantic white shell. There is no heart or soul inside the white dragon. He can't do anything when his home and community are turned to dust, the friends for whom he'd become a man are no more. His dragonkin wife's fair skin is burned pink, her eyes black with the poison, but having the vitality and mana of a dragon, she also survives the lick of death. They owe their lives to Katsuki, who carries his and Mina's weakened human vessels to safety. Kirishima's consciousness slips like a heap of pebbles at the coast of the river without return, where the boat embarks his entire court. His soul stands among stacked flat stones.
When Kirishima awakens in agonizing pain, Katsuki tells him that his wife is resting in another room. Moons pass, and Kirishima can't move from his bed by himself, go out without risking his life, hold a pen, or talk more than a few words at a time. He longs for Mina's scent, for her voice, for her quirky, golden dragonkin eyes, but the smallest piece of outside dust could consume what flesh remains on her bones. Like her burned skin, his scales have become soft with the white dragon's black breath. They stink of death, bacteria slowly devouring them from the inside out.
Kirishima is the toughest among the formidable Dragonkin, but even he has his limits. He writhes in his bed, but no pain is worse than his regrets. Even with the sun at his side, Alpha Radiant, the king couldn't stop the dark cloud from sweeping over his caravan. Kirishima can see the glow of the divinity's ethereal mana flowing out of its human vessel, but without Omega, he can't reach his full potential. They can't defeat the ultimate evil without another. Katsuki has talked about Omega lovingly, but Kirishima thinks he might never meet the moon's vessel.
His time is near. Three thousand years as a dragon, fifty as a man, many years married, almost the father of a rare dragonkin child, but everything is about to end. He doesn't mourn his upcoming death, but he regrets not being able to see his wife in his last moments, not being at her side when they lost their glow of hope. With difficulty, he is sharing his final wishes, surrounded by his friends and fellow Dragonkin. Five hardened warriors, including Tokoyami, are crying at the side of his deathbed. There is no hope left in their eyes, their only light in the darkness fading before them.
"Is the moon waning?" Kirishima asks his caravan's healer, the oldest survivor of his caravan.
When he took his first steps as a man, she taught him to act more human, taught him the rites and languages, and organized the ritual hunt for his mate. Centuries ago, the Red Dragon, whom the nomads worship as their sole god, taught Kirishima how to protect humans, but she taught him how to love. Mina, the queen, is his everything.
"It is Your Majesty," the shaman says, her voice husky with tears, "The sky was overcast earlier and hid the moon from our sight, but it cleared up since. Our guests are now resting in their nest, grateful for your kindness."
For long minutes, Kirishima is silent, too weak to talk, but all are leaning closely to hear him. "I want a bath in the moonlight. Wine."
"But your scales, Your Majesty! They cannot endure water in this condition!" Tokoyami starts, but the shaman interrupts him.
"Of course, Your Majesty," she says.
And so, the servants and warriors carry their agonizing king on a royal palanquin with nothing royal left. Once covered in luxurious woven fabric and thick cushions embroidered with jewels from the mountain's mines, it is now made of burnt wood, hay, and rags of smelly beast skin. This is the funeral procession of a poor man, not of a king. The nomads are stricken with sadness and shame as they drag their feet along, carrying their king to his last bath.
The procession stops, and everyone holds their breath as they arrive. The silence stretches as high as the sky and the moon. Kirishima's eyes are wide open, staring at the nearby peak, on top of which the waning moon currently stands. He sees a shining, golden wave as high as the mountain strikes its peak, a monumental divine figure seated with crossed legs on top, meditating. Kirishima's skin tingles with the droplets of mana permeating the air. His chest feels a bit lighter. The icy mountain carries the fragrance of a blooming flower field. It reminds him of Mina.
At last, someone reacts. "Flowers bloomed, your majesty. Moon lilies. Thousands of them, through the stone, ice, and snow!" Tokoyami wheezes.
Golden mana is leaking from every stone, and every flower, permeating the air like a thick mist. Kirishima suddenly has the energy to lift his head and is amazed at the scenery; a few cave dragons are lying on their flanks, peacefully asleep. One is munching on flowers and looks ecstatically drunk on them. The other is lying on his back, stretched out like a sleepy cat. The usually vicious creatures haven't even flinched at the group's arrival.
The moon lilies are growing out of the stone like chrysanthemums out of the snow. The basins glow like the night sky has covered them with stardust. Even the shaman is awestruck, watching the scenery in silence.
"Draconian cousin," Kirishima asks one of the dragons, "What happened?"
"The moon," the creature replies in dragontongue, "shone so softly tonight."
Kirishima and the shaman have the same intuition. "Carry His Majesty to the basin," she says.
The servants carry the king and carefully dip him into the moonglow. He slowly sinks into the water. A few minutes pass in silence. The mana covers his scales like honey, and he sighs in relief. He looks up at the moon and smiles, the shadow of death lifting from his body like a cloud from before the moon.
"Bring my wife here," he says, and all the warriors are shocked and worried. "Now," he orders.
Does he wish to die with his wife on the spot, they wonder, unaware of the energy slowly seeping back into his body. The cold air might kill her before she arrives, but Kirishima seems determined. The shaman approves. Warriors hurry to the queen's lodging. They bring back a shivering, moaning bundle of bandages, her sclera still black from poison.
"Don't unwrap her. Put her into the water, now," the king says with a vigor that knocks a few of his men off their feet in surprise.
The queen first shrieks terribly when she touches the water, but Kirishima doesn't flinch. His eyebrows are furrowed as the servants tremble and cry in empathy for their suffering queen, but he orders them to continue. Her heart could stop with the shock, a sobbing female servant says, begging the king to reconsider, but she faces a steady hill. Not the mountain of rock-hard muscles he once was, his physical shape as diminished as his vitality, but he's sitting straight and by himself. His gaze also has regained its spark.
Everyone moves as one as the queen leans against the king, and he supports her weight. She's immobile, and nobody except the king knows if she's still breathing. And then, her legs twitch. They move, and her toes curl. Her head lifts, and her black eyes stare at the king. She's still as bandaged as a mummy, but it peels off her skin, still pink from the poison but smooth and without scars.
"W-what's happening?" she asks in a weak, shivering voice, and the king's expression softens, becoming as gentle as the moon's glow. "Oh wow! So many flowers! Are we in the peony pavilion?!" she cries, looking around them for the first time.
Everyone's speechless. A miracle has happened, and they are witnessing it as the king slowly unwraps the queen from her bandages. Like a balm, a thin layer of thick white fluid is coating her once-burned skin.
"We're swimming in the moon and sun's, er, the elixir of life, Mina," Kirishima replies. "It must be their thanks, for respecting their rituals."
The queen covers her face, crying joyfully as her husband wraps his arms around her. Everyone is crying in joy and relief.
Their king will survive. There is still hope for their community; even Tokoyami believes in Omega's powers.
***
The first event Tokoyami announces to Izuku and Katsuki is that the white dragon has attacked the mainland, starting with Omega's hometown. As grateful as Kirishima is for Omega's gift of life, he can't risk sending the divine couple to fight if their unity and trust aren't total. Alpha has an explosive, arrogant, possessive character, and Omega's current vessel underestimates his powers. Katsuki calls him Deku, from what the shaman reported. Past legendary blunders with those two gods have led to disasters, and Kirishima can't risk more lives, including theirs. He keeps his rebirth secret to see how they handle the situation.
After the moon wanes, it waxes. The peak of Omega's heat cycle is during the moonless night; at that time, the couple is either vulnerable or invulnerable. In either case, disturbing their peace is dangerous for everyone, including the white dragon. It may try to destroy the whole empire before the next moonless night. Katsuki gazes at Izuku's smooth, pale face and the worry in his green eyes. "My mother is down there. We need to go, Katsuki," Izuku says.
Katsuki wants to go alone. Omega is only helpful for combat when his powers are awakened. Katsuki is pragmatic, lacking in sensibility, but his instinct is and will always be to protect Omega, even if it means tying him up. He threatens to do so if Omega doesn't obey him and follows him down the mountain. Izuku is also pragmatic and realistic; Alpha's powers are at their peak only when supported by Omega. Katsuki can't defeat the dragon on his own. Tokoyami watches their argument from a distance.
"Tokoyami, bring me ropes," Katsuki says, his hands sparking with annoyance, a weak but visible black aura emanating from Izuku. Tokoyami follows the orders, only to see how this will turn out, and report to Kirishima. He warned the argument might resolve weirdly, seen from a human perspective.
"You dare bind me?!" Izuku hisses.
"Fight me!" Katsuki growls, and Izuku frowns at Tokoyami as he hands Katsuki a bunch of ropes.
"Sorry, Omega Sovereign. I'm following the shaman's orders, not his," Tokoyami says, but he shivers at Izuku's killer glare. This is different from the gentle moon he's seen until now.
Suddenly, Izuku tries to run out. Tokoyami moves out of the way, but Katsuki pounces. His broad frame slams Izuku to the floor. Izuku yaps like an animal and tries to bite Katsuki's arm, but Katsuki is faster, flipping him onto his stomach and straddling his back. Izuku is strong. He struggles heftily, swinging his fists straight into Katsuki's abdomen, but it's like stone.
"Unhand me! Now!" Izuku roars, but Katsuki sniggers.
"Ooh, the kitten is hissing, showing his cute little claws! What are you going to hurt with those wrists? My patience? Come on, show me your powers, Omega. I can take much more than a little kitty punch!" Katsuki says, tying the first knot between the wrists while Izuku wiggles like a fish on land.
Kirishima was clear Tokoyami shouldn't intervene, although he's hesitating to. Izuku hasn't called for help, and he feels he doesn't even exist to those two. He watches the scene, powerless and somewhat uncomfortable.
"Oho, you're enjoying it?!" Katsuki chuckles, Izuku's foot slamming into his chest without making him flinch. He blocks it under his arm, the other leg slapping his side.
"L-Let me go!" Izuku yells as Katsuki's leg pushes between his.
"Fight back if you want me to stop, weakling!" Katsuki spits, trying to slip out from between Izuku's legs to tie them up, but they take him into a chokehold. "Don't you mainland monks learn to fight?" He asks with a strangled voice.
"We don't! We learn to climb mountains, meditate for full days, resist the cold, tolerate low oxygen, and not wrestle with a war god!" Izuku giggles nervously, "Untie me, please! Ah!"
Izuku is as tied up as a thief and can't move an inch anymore. "I-I'll crawl after you if I have to!" he shouts, and Katsuki's expression becomes serious again.
"Whatever happens, don't let him follow me," Katsuki says, turning his back to Izuku and heading for the exit.
"Wait! No, don't leave me here!" Izuku cries one last time, but Katsuki feigns ignoring him.
Yet, when the black whip lashes out to pack him, he defensively lifts an arm. Tokoyami understands he was expecting it. Several others lash out from Izuku's body and lift Katsuki near the tent's ceiling. He's more tied up than Izuku. Lacking control, Izuku turns Katsuki upside-down, hanging him by his feet.
"T-that's a start," Katsuki grimaces, red in the face from hanging upside-down. "Y-you'll need more to stop that dragon!"
Omega won't take any more insults or patronizing. His whip gives Alpha a not-so-tender reminder with one lash that its most gentle bite still stings worse than a bee before releasing him. Katsuki is biting his lip and rubbing his whipped muscle but isn't upset as his feet touch the ground. Riling Omega up is one method to awaken his powers.
"Don't ever forget that we are equals in the skies. This vessel will take any insult and humiliation, but don't doubt Omega's powers! If I must fight on the moonless night, I will fight. If I must fight pregnant, I'll fight!"
Katsuki mutters apologies, and their argument seems resolved. Tokoyami steps in again, and they seem surprised at his presence.
"So, what will you do? Will you both go to Musatafu?"
"We'll go," they reply in unison.
Tokoyami can't evaluate if their argument is truly settled if Alpha has hurt Omega's pride. What should he report to the king? Tokoyami suddenly has an idea, even though it might reveal the king is cured. He leaves them to ask for permission.
***
Izuku and Katsuki enter the queen's tent. It stinks of rotting flesh and medicinal herbs. Izuku is pale and covers his mouth so as not to retch at the strong odor. Katsuki tries to hide his concern; he hasn't been allowed to visit the queen since the white dragon burned her, as anything foreign to the disinfected room could infect her wounds. The smell of death clings to the thick fabric of the tent, her silken featherbed the last luxury in the caravan. She is seated up, covered in white robes. Her face is hidden behind an opaque veil, her hair covered, and wearing gloves. Not an inch of her skin is showing.
"You can sit, Your Highness! That's a relief," Katsuki observes.
"I bathed last night and received Omega's blessing. It felt like bathing in a Light Dragon's blood. Have you heard of Light Dragons?" she asks.
"In folk tales of my island, yes. They are only legendary. They were born from the blood of the ten suns Alpha defeated, but even I have no memory of them," Katsuki replies.
"Indeed, they are only a myth. Their blood is said to be the elixir of life, of eternal youth and health. Even though I doubt your honey would have revived my dead body if they'd put it into the water a minute later, your lovemaking seems able to dispel curses. I believe I found the way to defeat the white dragon with your help," she says, revealing her face.
Izuku startles at the black sclera, pink hair, pink skin, and Katsuki gapes. "Your Highness, you haven't completely shifted back to your human form," Katsuki says. She is still as beautiful as before, but her scaleless skin has the sheen of pink jade, and her horns haven't reverted.
"My core is healed, but my vessel remains damaged. But that matters not right now; will you hear my idea?" she asks.
They sit at her bedside to listen.
"If the fruit of your love can dispel the white dragon's curse, it may be able to defeat it. What if... Instead of fighting against it with violence, you tried the ultimate ritual in its presence?" she asks, lifting her veil as her suggestion might sound indecent.
"Y-you mean, we should complete t-that ritual while it's rampaging in a city, in front of everyone, including people who don't know anything about the rituals?" Izuku asks, his cheeks dusted pink.
"What if that doesn't work? We'll look like fools and die," Katsuki says, but Mina shakes her head.
"Listen here," Mina says, leaning forward, "As a dragon descendant, I know a few things, including the things the imperial flatlanders revised in history to save their face. I know about a few forbidden rituals. Your vessels might have been conditioned for generations to forget how you defeated that dragon, but the mountains haven't.
There are whispers among the icicles that on a moonless night, One For All, believing Omega to be at his weakest and easiest to defeat, attacked Alpha's divine shelter on the mountain's summit. Omega took All For One back into his womb. Lettered men have interpreted this legend in many ways, including that the demon might have joined the tryst and Alpha beheaded him while he was distracted, but the stones say they saw One For All become an infant again and disappear. Perhaps everything is true, or nothing is, but you need to try."
Katsuki rubs his face and sighs. Unlike Izuku, he hates sexual exhibitionism. That one time they had sex in a public ritual he vaguely remembers generations ago, he burned the eyes of everyone watching. Omega would happily masturbate in front of all his familiar temple monks and come several times from the exhilarating effects of the sun's drip drug, but those rituals served a holy purpose. They allowed their hearts to bond before their vessels reunited. He was the one touching Omega at those moments; he was the one giving him pleasure, but it wasn't an act of the flesh or an exhibition only for fun. It was sacred.
"Is there a way to not do that in the middle of a mass panic and rubble?" Katsuki asks tiredly.
"There must be a way to lure that dragon to a certain place where you could perform a ritual I'm thinking about... Would you, Omega, accept to read what it's about and tell me what you think?" She asks, seeing immediately in Izuku's heated gaze towards Katsuki that he'd more readily consent.
Tokoyami hands Izuku a scroll, and he reads it through, his face slowly flushing. "Yes. I want to do it," he says without hesitation once he's read it and hands Katsuki the scroll. "After what I went through during the marking, this is nothing."
Katsuki doesn't seem as enthusiastic as he reads but doesn't seem shocked either. "Now that I read this... I remember. The ritual lasted for two whole days. Omega mounted the dragon and drained his mana out. The white dragon regressed into an egg Omega took it back into his womb. But this is a human vessel, not the divinity from the beginning of time. We will need help, and his village's monks aren't on our side," Katsuki says, and Mina smiles.
"We got you covered," Mina says, "And Kirishima will fly you to Musatafu. That will save you some time."